The Bestie is Back

Wednesday, 28 July 2010  |  Bullish Insights

Whenever Annie is visiting Manila from Singapore where she’s based, we make the most out of the little time we have together.  For some women, that would mean countless hours of spa dates, shopping sprees, and long chats over coffee.  Not for Annie and I.

We spend our time running as much as we can.

MONDAY

Last Monday, we ran under the intense heat of the 9 a.m. sun at our favorite playground running our usual course.

ANNIE

Just like the good ol’ days, we warmed up with a short walk that extended to 1km without our knowing because of our endless chatting and laughing.  We ran the course paying no attention to pace since there were more stories to catch up on.  How’s life in Singapore? How much are local races nowadays?  Remember when we were both 5 to 10lbs lighter?  In between talking and laughing, as I ran with my bestest running buddy, I was glad to know that it was as if she never left.

After our run, we didn’t make plans for breakfast or meet ups.  We only set the date for our next run: Ultra on Wednesday.  That’s the way we are with Annie.  We don’t chat on the phone nor do we text each other often, but we always show up for our running dates.  And when we see each other, we have the best time sweating it out together.

WEDNESDAY

This morning, we met Coach Rio and friends Jay and Jun at Ultra track oval.

Annie and I reminisced about the summer of 2008 when we trained together under Coach Jo-Ar.  How he made us do intervals  with Coach Lydia de Vega and her highschool track team.  There we were, two women twice the age of these long-legged sprinters attempting to match their pace.  Or how Coach would make us run up the stairs with Annie reaching the top so quickly as I always struggled to run the last 3 steps.  Aaah we were much fitter then.

Coach Rio asked us to run a 1-miler, 800, 400, and 200 earlier today.  As usual, I chased Annie from behind; she’s always been the stronger runner.  With both of us not being at our fittest, we huffed and puffed all throughout the run.  Just like before, we would complain about what we had to do, but deep inside, we both knew we loved the speed.

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– with Coach Rio, Chino Trinidad, Noy Jopson, Jun Bisnar, Jun Cruz, Mart Miranda, and Annie-

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– Annie in serious conversation with our good friend, Jun. I bet they’re talking about injuries or insoles –

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– sandwiched between two super celeb athletes, top triathlete Noy Jopson and Coach Rio de la Cruz. Starstruck ako, guys! –

MORE TO COME

Annie will be here until next week.  Needless to say, there will be more runs to come.  Hill training, maybe another track workout, and definitely Rexona Run where we’re registered for 21k.  Aaah, runs are going to be fun in the days to come!  Isn’t this what running buddies are for?!